My wife continues to be skeptical about Great Pyrs. I think I have her almost convinced. Her arguments against are that the Great Pyrs are know for barking too much and for needing brushing.

Now she's wondering about the Anatolian Shepherd.

Some anatolians seem to look just like Great Pyrs.

What the big differences between the two?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), June 12, 2001

Answers

I've been doing a bit of homework so to speak lately on different guardian dogs. And the Great Pyrs are alot calmer and won't bite the goats very much (While they're still puppies is when they bite) And the Anatolians never mind biting and will do it as much as they please. Anyway,that's what Ive heard. I have a friend that has a Great Pyr and she loves it,it won't even hurt her ducklings. And won't bite the goats hardly any. And never very hard on the rare occasion it does. :-) Hope I helped!

-- Cosmic Country Girl (CosmicCountry@Yahoo.com), June 12, 2001.

I don't have Anaolians but I have talked to breeders before gettin our second Pyr. They can be very aggressive towards anything they view as a threat to their livestock. Pyrs will alert and defend if they need to but are less prone to attack. Just something to think about. I would talk to some breeders. Most will give you an honest answer about the dogs.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@linkup.net), June 12, 2001.

We have two Pyrs, a male and female from the same litter. The male barks frequently, the female rarely barks. The male is by far the more aggressive. He is quick to run to fence to meet passing cars, bicycles, and pedestrians with much barking. The female doesn't seem to care. Barking is their job to warn predators away.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), June 12, 2001.

Skip forgot to add that the male Pyreneese does know how to stop barking. If he gets going I will check on what he is barking about and let him know that is enough. I looked into Anatolians before we got the Pyreneese. The Anatolians like to work the perimeter of your property, I also had one breeder say that she wouldn't sell her puppies to anyone without a 5 foot fence. I think the Pyreneese are friendlier to guests that you have and also tend to stick closer to the animals, although ours will walk the fence line (one stays with the goats while the other walks). I did not have much trouble with them chasing or biting. I supervised them during the first couple of months we had them as puppies and corrected for chasing, excessive roughhouse (even among themselves), etc. I found them to be very sensitive and after just a couple of easy corrections they would stop running an a 'no'. They have been out 24 hours a day with our goats, they are with our bucks right now since they were 4 months old. I do let them out with the does, but supervise as the kids like to run and occasionally the Pyreneese will take off (not at the goats, but at someone along the road) and scare them getting the entire herd running. I have a very pregnant doe and do not want to have anything accidental happen to her. So as a precaution, I am out there until the kids all get used to the dogs. The coats on ours do get matted, I try to keep the big ones out but do take the clippers to them during the summer. Since they don't go in the house it doesn't matter as much to me. I would prefer a short hair LGD, but I do like the temperment of the Pyreneese.

-- Leslie Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), June 13, 2001.